I have another matter of interest, to me. I hope that it will be of interest to you as well. I just recently finished another portfolio of my work. I was not aware until I had printed, mounted, and matted the individual prints (12 of them) that every single one was in a vertical orientation. Since these were from 4X5 negatives, I had to make a decision at the time of exposure to rotate the camera back. I had not become aware of this way in which I was seeing the world until then.

I had long been aware that I tend to view the world from a slightly telephoto prespective. Most of my images are taken with the 210 mm lens in 4X5 at one time. Since my awareness of my tendency to see things at that focal length, I have worked at using different focal lengths now I can use the slight wide angle of a 120 mm and the more wide angle 90mm.

As I view the work of other photographers, such as Muench, I see their predisposition to using extreme wide angles and very effectively I might add.

It seems that if I am to engage the world about me in new, different, and exciting ways, that I must become aware of the limited way in which I now engage it. From that awareness change can occur.

I would like to hear others experiences in this regard. Perhaps through your sharing I can become aware of other limitations that I may have. Thank you for your input.

Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.

My first 4x5 was a Speed Graphic with a 127 mm Ektar. So, as a result, all of my first LF pictures used this focal length only. While a fine lens, I didn&#39;t exactly care for the composition of my photos given the lens and my typical subjects (B&W landscapes).

Eventually, I added a new 4x5, with 90 mm and 210 mm lenses, along with an 8x10 with 159 mm and 355 mm lenses, as well as some various paper weights that never get used. Only the 210 mm could be considered "modern".

In 4x5, I find that most of my images are taken with the 210 mm. I think the reason for doing this (besides the fact that it is of higher quality than my other lenses) is that I feel that with a wide angle, everything will appear too small on the film and just get lost in things like the mountains in the background, the sky, etc. When I do use a wide angle, I typically use it as a close up of something interesting, where I can go right next to the subject, where nothing in the background or sides really dominates or takes away from the subject.

With 8x10, on the other hand, I use the 159 mm a lot more than the 355 mm. This is partly due to the sizes of the lenses the 159 is very small, but slow, and I like to hike around with it, while the 355 mm is big, fast and coated. With the 8x10, in comparison to the 4x5, the image size seems so much bigger, that I feel I can get away with my concerns in 4x5. I probably include a lot more background in 8x10 than 4x5, but my subjects are a lot bigger on the 8x10 film and easier for me to see on the ground glass.

While film size shouldn&#39;t be that much of an issue if you&#39;re enlarging, I only do contact printing in LF, and to me the negative size makes a big difference. I too am truly impressed by what photographers such as Muench have done with wide angle lenses, but to me I am often trying to worry about one or two particular subjects or points in the scene while keeping everything else in focus using the cameras movements. I find that this is easier for me to do in 4x5 with a somewhat longer lens, and with a bigger image in 8x10, it is easier for me to fit the subject with a wide lens and setting up the tripod close to the subject. I seem to be at home using both of these lenses in both of these formats in both close quarters and distant shots, however.

If I had more lenses, this might change things, but even with only one or two lenses in my pack when I go out to take pictures, I never really say to myself "if only I had a wider/longer lens for this scene." I can usually make due, and always walk up a little closer or farther away if necessary.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

It&#39;s funny you mention you see in a certain way such as tele or wideangle. I too have found this and go thru different phases when one lenses seems to be favored over theres. Right now my fav 4x5 lens is a 150 closely followed by a 90. I am currently on the hunt for a 65mm as this is the widest I can use on my field camera. If I could I would get a 40 something, but alas will not work.

I think it also depends on where you are too. Certain locals lend themselves to a certain vision more than another. I try and give myself little projects to do that will break me out of whatever rut I am currently in. This insures I use a full gamut of lens over a 1 year span. Each takes it&#39;s own little bit of technique so I don&#39;t want to get rusty with any of them.

Years ago I saw a documentary in which they returned to places where old masters painted landscapes and attempted to match the scenes as closely as possible with a camera. Interestingly, in order to match the size relationships between near and far objects in the paintings, they found that they had to use a focal length of about 135mm. I don&#39;t remember if they mentioned what format film they would have had to use to match the field of view.

It is a photo that I personally love. But in the past I could never seem to get the right crop and right contrast with it. The crop was the biggest problem. I never really felt good about it.

Then I realized something very important - I was literally thinking inside the box.

Right now I can only work digitally and have the results printed on a Frontier (this will hopefully change this summer by the way). To do this cheaply I get a bunch of images together and save them as 300dpi 4x5s or 8x10s. If I put them all in the same directory, the Frontier machine will just read them all and print them off. That way I get the "reprint" discount on every image after the first one. It saves me a bundle.

Thing is, I kept cropping for the 4x5/8x10 aspect ratio&#33; I had gotten so used to the concept of working within those parameters that I never thought to leave them&#33; Then I was playing around and came up with the rather long crop that I have posted on APUG. I think it looks much better and serves the image well. I have also learned to stop thinking inside the 4x5 box and to expand my horizons a bit&#33;

The other thing I try to keep in mind is the fact we don&#39;t see the same way a camera does. The fact is, our brains do a ton of processing with every "image" we see.

Peripheral vision is a good example. When you look at a scene, only the center of your field of vision is really viewable. Anything towards the edges of you FOV is sort of indistinct. You can sense motion there well enough, and you know generally that something is there and what color it is, but you can&#39;t see any detail. A good example is the fact that you can&#39;t read with peripheral vision.

But if you took a picture of the same scene with a lens that exactly matched the focal length of your eyes, you could see things on the edges of the image perfectly well. The lens captures it all (assuming a decent lens). The lens sees more than we do.

With that in mind, I think it is a mistake to even try to equate a lens with the human eye. They are two very different things. And we must be aware of this because as we all know, what we see with our eyes may not be what the camera sees.

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[FONT=Comic Sans MS]DaVinci never wrote an artist's statement...[/FONT]

First of all: A 135mm lens is considered "normal" for 9x12cm, which is the European (read: German) equivalent of 4x5". Having said that, I have a (German) Voigtländer 9x12cm plate camera with a 150mm Voigtländer Heliar on it...

Back to the way we see: I also find that I prefer a 210mm on 4x5" - or 300mm on 5x7. I tend to use the "normal" lenses less often, and wide angles even less. I hope to "rectify" this using my new old 121mm SA on the 5x7 for a while, at least I can&#39;t blame lack of coverage when I decide on a longer lens&#33;

Most of the photos I&#39;ve taken with wide(ish) lense look like they should be enlarged to 4x5 meters or so to look right. It&#39;s something about the perspective, perhaps?

I find I initially look at the scene with a wide angle eye, about 135mm in 4x5.
After I study things a while and use composing cards for various focal lengths I find I usually either go longer or try to move in closer to the subject. When I first shot 4x5 my first lens was a 135mm but I was forced to move the camera closer or enlarge just a portion of some images.

Now that I have a more extensive lens selection I can let the subject matter determine focal length and ultimate composition. To think in terms of different focal lengths in LF, I find it helpful to shoot the same subjects on 35mm and use several different comparable focal lengths to 4x5 and then study them later.

"Fundamentally I think we need to rediscover a non-ironic world"
Robert Adams

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (dnmilikan @ Feb 19 2003, 09:53 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>I have another matter of interest, to me. I hope that it will be of interest to you as well. I just recently finished another portfolio of my work. I was not aware until I had printed, mounted, and matted the individual prints (12 of them) that every single one was in a vertical orientation. Since these were from 4X5 negatives, I had to make a decision at the time of exposure to rotate the camera back. </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
You made a choice with the first one but after that? It&#39;s not like you rotated back and then said to yourself no I really want this one vertical. I don&#39;t find the difference between 4x5 portrait and landscape that great. 6x9 sort of screams out landscape to me.

On the lens issue I took somebody&#39;s advice and made one of those cardboard cutouts with a string attached. Looks goofy but it seems to help me visualize better. 210 to 240 seems to be right most of the time but then a 50mm seemed just fine on 35mm to.